
2 stars
Reviewed by Gaynor
This is the story of Sarah, a battered wife who reached breaking point and has spent 17 years in a mental health facility as her punishment for not taking any more. Serena Raymond is the psychologist assigned to her case. I am struggling with this review as the start of the book was engaging, i liked the characters, i certainly wanted to know more about Sarah, especially as she was “ready to tell her story” to Dr Raymond. However it all sort of descended a bit into confusion and seemed to be struggling with which genre it really wanted to fit into. So, on the plus side we have a great idea for a story, all the characters are well formed with enough backstory to make us understand how they tick. The scenes where Sarah’s mental health deteriorates are genuinely harrowing at times and the brief snippets we get of her relationship with her husband, prior to his demise at her hands, actually make you feel like he deserved everything that was coming to him.
However, the story wasn’t structured well. Storylines started and then filtered off without conclusion, who was behind her transfer to another facility? Why didn’t we get to hear her story fully? Scenes were unbelievable, hours after falling from a fire escape and breaking both legs, ribs and a significant head injury a character was up and walking around their room and two characters were having a touching moment at the end of someone’s hospital bed. I also felt the author was trying to force in a romantic element which for me just stuck out badly and i felt a little in poor taste given the storyline and some of the harrowing things Sarah is experiencing at the same time.
I give this 2 stars but with some tying up of loose ends and some tidying of some confusing paragraph formatting this has the potential to be a fantastic story.
Late Night Books Reviewer Gaynor
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